Canada’s Asia-Pacific Gateway: Linking Canada and China

Photo: Minister of State Wong (centre) with delegates from the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative round table.

April 8, 2013, Shanghai, China - On behalf of the Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, the Honourable Alice Wong, Minister of State (Seniors), attended an Asia-Pacific Gateway round table in Shanghai, China. Participants at this round table included Canadian and Chinese representatives from ports, railways, shipping and logistics companies, as well as local partners of Canadian companies.

The Asia-Pacific Gateway’s geographic location makes it ideal for facilitating trade between North America and Asia. The Government of Canada and its partners have taken action by making strategic investments in the transportation systems supporting Canada’s Asia-Pacific Gateway and Asia-Pacific trade. The round-table event provided an opportunity to promote the Asia-Pacific Gateway—together with Canada’s railways and the Port of Metro Vancouver—as the premier link in the supply chains between China and North America. In 2011, the value of Canadian cargo exports to China via the gateway totalled $16.8 billion. 

Ministers Fast and Wong are leading a five-day trade mission to advance the interests of Canadian businesses in China and Japan, which in turn will create jobs and increased prosperity in Canada.

Minister Fast and Minister of State Wong are accompanied on the trade mission by representatives of 18 Canadian companies, mainly small and medium-sized, from Canada’s information and communications technologies (ICT) and medical imaging sectors.

The trade mission, which is being organized by Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service, is one of several strategically focused, sector-specific missions that Minister Fast has led since taking on the international trade portfolio.

Located in more than 150 cities worldwide and in regional offices across Canada, the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, part of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, is Canada’s most extensive network of international business professionals. The Trade Commissioner Service helps companies that are looking to export, invest abroad, attract investment or develop innovation and research and development partnerships.

For more information, please consult Deepening Trade with Asia.

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For further information, media representatives may contact:

Rudy Husny
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Ed Fast
Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway
613-992-7332

Trade Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-996-2000
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